Effect of dopant nanoparticles on reorientation process in polymer-dispersed liquid crystals

Abstract

The analysis of the experimental data of the nanoscale powders application for doping polymer-dispersed liquid crystals (PDLC) was represented in this work. A model based on the separation of the liquid crystals reorientation process on the surface mode and the volume mode was proposed and tested. In the research the wide-spread model mixture PDLC were used. But alumina nanoparticles were the distinctive ones obtained by electron beam evaporation. The proposed model allowed to conclude that the nanoparticles localization at the surface of the droplets (as in the Pickering emulsion) lead to the variation of the connection force between the liquid crystals and the polymer. The effect of nanoparticles resulted in an acceleration of the reorientation process near the surface when the control field is turned on and in a deceleration when it is turned off. The effect for the different size particles was confirmed.